Prabowo deal with Xi puts Indonesian maritime claims at risk

Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto has signed a deal with Beijing undermining his country’s sovereignty over the southern fringes of the South China Sea, according to maritime experts.

Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, left, and Chinese President Xi Jinping shake hands during a signing ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. Picture: Getty Images

Has Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto just signed a deal with Beijing undermining his country’s sovereignty over the southern fringes of the South China Sea?

Maritime experts say they fear he has, and that a weekend agreement with Chinese President Xi Jinping to resume joint development of fisheries and marine research in “areas of overlapping claims” ­fatally weakens Jakarta’s longstanding legal position that Beijing’s claims over its North Natuna Sea are illegitimate ­because the two countries have no overlapping maritime claims.

China and Indonesia signed deals valued at $US10bn in the food, energy and biotechnology sectors at a bilateral business forum in Beijing on Sunday during a three-day visit by Mr Prabowo to Beijing, the first stop on his first official overseas trip which saw him fly to Washington on Monday for expected talks with US President Joe Biden and president-elect Donald Trump.

A day earlier, the two leaders agreed to deepen co-operation on security, disaster mitigation, clean energy, agriculture, lithium batteries, electric vehicles, and jointly ensure the security of global mineral supply and industrial chains.

A joint statement released after Saturday’s talks said “the two sides reached important common understanding on joint development in areas of overlapping claims and agreed to establish an Inter-Governmental Joint Steering Committee to explore and ­advance relevant co-operation”.

That quickly sparked warnings from Indonesian international law experts that the wording significantly shifted Indonesia’s longstanding position by tacitly recognising China’s widely discredited Nine Dash Line claim over the South China Sea, including Indonesia’s own north Natuna waters.

Eddy Pratomo, an international law professor and retired diplomat who previously chaired Indonesia’s negotiating team on maritime law and international treaties, said the statement locked Jakarta into a new position that not only complicated maritime boundary negotiations with other neighbours but potentially also disrupted the region’s geopolitical balance.

“Given that Indonesia has now acknowledged China’s maritime rights within Indonesia’s EEZ in the North Natuna Sea, it would be impossible to ratify the Indonesia-Vietnam agreement signed in 2022 without involving China,” he said.

“China can use this joint statement to prevent Indonesia from ratifying this agreement, as it would overlook China’s maritime rights.”

Professor Pratomo said the new position possibly contradicted Indonesian national law, and weakened ASEAN’s position that China’s claim to most of the South China Sea was inconsistent with the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Concern over the statement appeared to extend to Indonesia’s foreign ministry, which issued a statement on Monday insisting any new co-operation agreed to at the weekend must comply with relevant laws and regulations, including UNCLOS and bilateral boundary agreements.

“This co-operation cannot be interpreted as recognition of the ‘Nine-Dash Line’ claim,” it said.

“Indonesia reaffirms its consistent position that this claim has no basis in international law … this co-operation does not affect Indonesia’s sovereignty, sovereign rights or jurisdiction in the north Natuna Sea.”

Aristyo Darmawan, an Australian National University scholar and University of Indonesia international law lecturer, told The Australian that the statement formally acknowledging overlapping claims was “very fatal”, and that foreign ministry officials were “really struggling with how to handle this”.

“This is not an offhand comment from an official in a doorstop interview. If it were, maybe it could be dismissed as a mistake, but this is an official document that’s now on the Chinese government’s website.

“From a legal perspective, there should be consequences.”

The agreement is likely to raise concerns in both Hanoi and ­Manila, where Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr signed two laws on Friday reaffirming the extent of his country’s maritime territories and right to resources, including in the South China Sea.

The move was quickly condemned by China.